Cold-matter (including ultra-cold-matter) physics (e.g., optical traps, magneto-optical traps (MOTs), ion traps, laser cooling, and Bose-Einstein Condensates), has spurred demand for compact high vacuum (HV) and ultra-high vacuum (UHV, e.g., from about 10−9 torr to about 10−13 torr) systems. Various pumping technologies can be used to establish UHV. However, UHV can degrade as particles are introduced intentionally (e.g., as part of an experiment) or unintentionally (e.g., by effusion from or diffusing through vacuum cell walls), so an active pumping technology is needed to maintain UHV. Ion pumps are currently the most desirable and mature technology for actively maintaining UHV in a compact cell. Typically, an ion pump is attached directly or via some intermediate structure to a cell that is to contain the cold matter.
UHV systems are typically incorporated in host systems that, for example, may include equipment for maintaining the UHV system in a high-vacuum (HV) environment, lasers, and other equipment for interacting with the content of interest in the UHV cell. Accordingly, typical UHV host systems are desktop-size or larger and, so, tend to be expensive and immobile. What is needed is a relatively small, inexpensive, and robust UHV system (including a UHV cell and an ion pump) that could be incorporated into a compact and, preferably, portable host system. Such a UHV system and host system would make cold and ultra-cold-matter systems accessible to more people, which in turn would stimulate advances in and expand applications of cold-matter physics.